The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-03-13
SACRIFICED TO PELE.
The Sister of Hawaii. King tn Appease
the Volcano.
Honolulu Letter. February Il.

the Volcano.
Honolulu Letter. February Il.
There is weeping and wailing to-day
among the mild-eyed Kanakas in this
far Oft kingdom Of the sunset sea. All
that is mortal of the well beloved Prin-
cess Like Like. the youngest sister of
his majesty King Kalakaua. will be- de-
posted on the 25th inst. side by side
with those of other personages who have
gone before To their last resting place i'm
the royal mausoleum.
The princess was a woman of more
than ordinary intelligence. and had inn
proved herself 10y much reading and
study. Her manners were easy and
graceful She was the wife of 4. Il.
Cicghorn. nj one time member of the
Kings cabinet. and by him had one
child. little girl now nine years of age.
This little miss. provided she lives. will.
in all probability, take an important
stand in the affairs of the kingdom, she
being i'm the line of succession tn the
throne.
But notwithstanding the intelligence Of
Like Like-the constant intercourse she
had had with the foreign population
for years and years-there was Yet "A
strain of natural superstition in her
composition of which she could not rid
herself, and to this, if reports be true, we
may now attribute her untimely taking
off For centuries back. or as far ar run
the Hawaiian annals, there has been a
belief among the people that the erup-
tions Of Mauna Laa and kileua were the
means taken by the goddess Pele To show
her displeastre at mortal events. Ii was
also held-and the recently resurrected
order of Kahunas and soothsayers EN-
couraged the belief-that the only means
To apIease the goddess wrath was by the
sacrifice of some of the royal family.
Time and again, when these awful vol
canoes have deluged the surrounding
country with the fiery flow and shaken
the coral islands To the center. has this
human sacrifice taken place, whether
with the desired effect or not the chron-
iclers say not.
The volcano of Mauna Ina recently
broke out into violent eruption. This
eruption. the first i'm twenty-five years.
caused the superstitious natives TO be
lieve that Pele had put her war paint on
and was showing her anger at the things
that he. The natives from their huts
watched the lurid light that shOne upon
the mountain town and knew that the
goddess was reaching out her fiery arms
for a victim of the royal blood. Tahunas.
who have lately gained once more the
favor of the King, declared that Pele
must be appeased To arrest the fearful
WItH tIttN fstlu uiust SoiIit.
They had not far To search for one who
would make the fearful sacrifice. and.
while the rumbling of the volcano made
awful thunder, the Princess Like Like
announced To her people that she, the
sister of the king-the nearest to the
throne-would lay down her life to stop
the fearful flow. She openly proclaimed
that she gloried to make martyr of her
self for her country and her people; and.
though in the prime Of life, and with
the PROSPECT of a crown before her, she
made her final preparations and lay
down to await the end. 1t is said that
in this final proceeding the Kahunas
played no unimportant part, and that.
while acting as her guardians and advis-
ers. they were. in fact, practising their
dark arts upon her and hurrying her on
ward tn the end.
For DAYS and days she lay among these
people, and during all that time not
particle Of food was allowed to pass her
lips. Death was not speedily coming TO
one 80 full of life and vitality as she had
been. but starvation did its work at last.
and, while the kahunas sat about and
their incantations went on. the spirit Of
the princess left her body and the sacri-
flee was at an end. For 20 days her re-
mains are to lie i'm state, and ON the 2sth
the iron portals Of the mausoleum close
in upon them forever.
That this good woman was cruelty
sacrificed to the superstition Of the ka-
hlinas is an open secret at the islands.
but the strangest part to tell is this: that
upon the day of her death Mauna LOa
the fearful ceased to belch its lava forth,
and for days after was in comparative
quiet, and then the hoary old sooth-say-
ers went about among the people with
many nod and mystic sign, as who
should say, Didn't we foretell this
and to-day their power is greater in the
land than since the days when Capt.
Cook laid his bones upon their sandy